To let my cat out at night?

[Deargodletitgo]

I have two rescues, both fixed, both chipped and one of whom wears a tracker after getting himself locked in a neighbours house for a week last year and scaring the crap out of me.

Their schedule is out from early morning and then able to come and go till dusk when they are locked inside. Except twat face my boy cat is now waking me up at 2.30am onwards to demand to be let out. If its light, I've let him out (4.30am onwards and gone back to sleep) but last two nights I've waited until the sun comes up and had over an hour of claws, abuse and terrorist activity from him. And no, locking him out of the room isn't an option as he'll claw through the door and meow the house down keeping everyone awake.

Issue is we lost a cat a couple of years back during the early morning on a road when we lived in another village and so I'm a bit paranoid. AIBU to just say to hell with it and let the little sod out into the dark?

Cats roam by nature, they are not supposed to be confined, controlled or contained. I live very rurally & we have what we call ‘barn cats’ they roam the land & live permanently in the barn & come & go as they please but they are most active at night so to bring them in & restrict their natural behaviour would be cruel

You can absolutely create a routine, but it will mean a few days of powering through from your side.

Feed at set times (don't leave food down for grazing, only what they eat at, say, breakfast and dinner). Let them out between those two meals, they'll come back for dinner and get used to the fact the flap is then locked overnight.

For best results, play with them (hunting/chasing string toys is the best) for a good 10 minutes before feeding them. After that, they'll clean themselves and settle down to sleep.

I progressed from being woken every hour to give more pouches/open doors/remove mice to now an understanding that noisy cats in the night simply Do. Not. Get. Attention.

For your sanity, best if you can shut them at least two doors away from your bed. And although I miss having them in bed with me, I do love the better quality of sleep.

2 rabbits and an older cat on our road were killed by a fox last week. Since I've then been trying to shout my cat in at night. Often she will come onto the fence when she hears her name and just sit starting at me. Other times she won't come at all. She will be out all night during the summer. I don't know how people say they should not be let out when it's in their DNA to roam.

I have 2 cats, one is compliant and a sweet angel, the other is a gorgeous orange beast that does what he likes, when he likes, including demanding to be towel dried if he comes in from the rain 😂

So far he has 24hr cat flap access and an automatic feeder set at 5am in case he decides he's starving to death before 7am. If you had told me a year ago I'd be towel drying a cat and setting up midnight snacks I'd have laughed at you 😼

I'm in the UK in a quiet village so not too many threats.

Not to him - but he poses a threat to wildlife and birds.

I've also been looking to adopt a kitten from our local shelter. I filled in the paperwork but as I wrote I keep the door open all day for my cat to come and go they said we couldn't proceed. They had forgotten to write indoor only. All the kittens have this which will probably put people off.

My cats are in maybe ten minutes a day to eat. If a cat is an outdoor cat it’s cruel to keep them in if they don’t like it. You do have to accept they could run away or get run over though but that’s part of having an outdoor cat. It’s more like you are a patron than an owner.